Washington — THE other day while I was crossing the street in Beijing, a car almost flattened me. Both the driver and I were outraged at the other’s ineptitude. In China, if you want to avoid being hit, you keep your head down and avoid eye contact with the oncoming driver, since looking at him would signal that you saw the car and know you should let it pass. In the United States, the opposite rule applies: Making eye contact confirms that the driver has seen you and should yield to the vulnerable pedestrian.

Something similar is occurring now between China and global financial markets. Billions in renminbi and dollars could be lost while trying to untangle the lines of communication.

Chinese bureaucrats believe that they have the right to intervene in their country’s economy whenever they want, not only to promote certain industries but also to prevent sudden downturns and reduce volatility. Officials believe that they don’t have to defend or explain their decisions in real time to market participants. In fact, being opaque preserves their discretion to make changes on the fly.

This approach goes against the operating principles of global financial markets: clarity and timely transparency. Intervention should be the exception, not the norm.

The job of regulators should be to ensure a fair market, but China’s stock market is worse than a casino, as Chinese regulators’ goals and the basic rules of the game can shift without warning. With China’s housing market in disarray in 2014, authorities invited investors to shift their capital to the stock market and then took a series of steps to facilitate high returns. When the market started to nose-dive last summer, officials wouldn’t let the bubble that had inevitably formed fully burst. Instead they suspended trading for some companies, mopped up shares, ordered large shareholders not to sell and accused market analysts of spreading false rumors.

The "crossing the road analogy" is rubbish as I have lived in China for more than 9 years and I always make eye contact with the driver and walk right in front of them (they always stop as the law here puts the driver immediately at fault). Perhaps the author didn't know the "you can always turn right unless there is a red arrow" traffic rule (which can be very annoying as a pedestrian but if you just walk in front of the cars they will stop - and most especially if you are a white foreigner).

On the other hand I certainly would not invest anything in the Chinese stock market and even their property market is not what you'd think of as very secure (the number of empty apartment complexes in China is mind boggling and it is not easy to actually get property titles to anything new that you might buy).

The "crossing the road analogy" is rubbish as I have lived in China for more than 9 years and I always make eye contact with the driver and walk right in front of them (they always stop as the law here puts the driver immediately at fault). Perhaps the author didn't know the "you can always turn right unless there is a red arrow" traffic rule (which can be very annoying as a pedestrian but if you just walk in front of the cars they will stop - and most especially if you are a white foreigner).

On the other hand I certainly would not invest anything in the Chinese stock market and even their property market is not what you'd think of as very secure (the number of empty apartment complexes in China is mind boggling and it is not easy to actually get property titles to anything new that you might buy).

It is very interesting info. Somewhat totally different from what I think is happening in China. They have massive overpopulated cities and empty apartments?Would you be kind enough to tell us why? It is too expensive for normal citizens to live in there?

Would you be kind enough to tell us why? It is too expensive for normal citizens to live in there?

They have mostly just developed too many apartment complexes (sometimes in places where no-one lives).

Part of the problem might be price but another big part of the problem is most likely corruption (so they don't want to sell without getting a big profit).

So you end up with places that have big apartment buildings that are empty as the developers want the profits but the complex has been built in a place where no-one wants to live (known as "ghost towns").

Washington — THE other day while I was crossing the street in Beijing, a car almost flattened me. Both the driver and I were outraged at the other’s ineptitude. In China, if you want to avoid being hit, you keep your head down and avoid eye contact with the oncoming driver, since looking at him would signal that you saw the car and know you should let it pass. In the United States, the opposite rule applies: Making eye contact confirms that the driver has seen you and should yield to the vulnerable pedestrian.

Something similar is occurring now between China and global financial markets. Billions in renminbi and dollars could be lost while trying to untangle the lines of communication.

Chinese bureaucrats believe that they have the right to intervene in their country’s economy whenever they want, not only to promote certain industries but also to prevent sudden downturns and reduce volatility. Officials believe that they don’t have to defend or explain their decisions in real time to market participants. In fact, being opaque preserves their discretion to make changes on the fly.

This approach goes against the operating principles of global financial markets: clarity and timely transparency. Intervention should be the exception, not the norm.

The job of regulators should be to ensure a fair market, but China’s stock market is worse than a casino, as Chinese regulators’ goals and the basic rules of the game can shift without warning. With China’s housing market in disarray in 2014, authorities invited investors to shift their capital to the stock market and then took a series of steps to facilitate high returns. When the market started to nose-dive last summer, officials wouldn’t let the bubble that had inevitably formed fully burst. Instead they suspended trading for some companies, mopped up shares, ordered large shareholders not to sell and accused market analysts of spreading false rumors.

Guess what, rules change all the time in stock markets around the world--China is no different in that respect. Sounds like their rules typically suck though. But what about the bitcoin market? Is that the focus of this thread or is it the stock market or real estate market?

The stock market and the real estate market are run pretty much the same way in China, and probably also by the same people. There's an empty land, and some high-ranking official says it would be a great place for development. So he green-lights everything and huge apartments complexes are built, before anyone poses market questions. Who is going to live there? Who will want to live there? Same for the stock market. Government says the people should invest in stocks, so millions do without knowing anything about stocks nor the market, prompting the government to intervene to prevent huge disruptions or crashes.

The government should probably stop playing with the economy, but it's in such a mess right now...

Would you be kind enough to tell us why? It is too expensive for normal citizens to live in there?

They have mostly just developed too many apartment complexes (sometimes in places where no-one lives).

Part of the problem might be price but another big part of the problem is most likely corruption (so they don't want to sell without getting a big profit).

So you end up with places that have big apartment buildings that are empty as the developers want the profits but the complex has been built in a place where no-one wants to live (known as "ghost towns").

How much money do you need a month to go sightseeing around China? And can you get around by speaking English or you are forced to learn basic Chinese?

How much money do you need a month to go sightseeing around China? And can you get around by speaking English or you are forced to learn basic Chinese?

It of course depends upon what sort of level of comfort you want to experience but assuming you are okay with Chinese food and say 3 star hotels (which are a little crappy in China compared to 3 star hotels in say Australia but are still okay if you're not overly fussy) then I'd allow for at least 400-500 RMB per day to cover food, accommodation and fees for tickets/transport/etc.

You would be best advised to get a Chinese guide that has English skills as there are few Chinese that speak fluent English that you will meet outside of major airports or major tourist sites (which might push the cost closer to 600 RMB per day).

BTW - you can use Uber in most large cities in China which can make transport fairly simple even if you can't speak any Chinese.

Although this is getting off topic (and please PM me if you wish to discuss it further) if you are brave enough and wanted to try traveling around China on your own without a guide then for BTC I could provide a service to help you with things like hotel bookings, taxi pickups, etc.

(in particular this could include the ability to have someone to call here in order to help with translation for any difficult situation)